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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Balsamic & Rosemary Braised Pork Butt

Summer is holding on with all of its might. We are supposed to hit near 90 again this week. However, we have had a few nice cool days sprinkled in here and there these last few weeks. Fall is starting to show a little promise. I would love a couple of straight months of 70s, but we rarely get that around here. It seems like we jump from 90 to 50 forcing us to go from the air conditioner straight to running the heat! I know there are worse things to worry about, but doesn't a nice long fall sound magnificent?

I did take advantage of one of the cool days to do one of my favorite things to do in fall and winter, a nice long braise. Pork butt just begs to be braised. Usually I braise it for carnitas or pulled pork, but this time I had a little something different in mind. I braised it in balsamic with some honey to balance out the vinegar. Throw in some bay leaves, rosemary and enough water to give plenty of braising liquid and you are in business.

See, you take it out of the oven and the meat falls right off the bone! I poured off the fat, thickened up the braising liquid a bit and added the meat back. It was perfect served over mashed potatoes, but would also be great with rice or pasta. A quick veggie and dinner is served!

Balsamic Braised Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil

3-5 lbs pork shoulder/butt

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup honey

2-3 sprigs rosemary

2 bay leaves

salt & pepper

2-3 tsp corn starch

Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a large dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat.

Sprinkle salt and pepper generously over pork and brown pork on each side.

Remove from heat. Pour vinegar and honey over pork. Add rosemary and bay leaves. Add 4 cups of water. Cover with lid and place in oven.

Braise for 4-6 hours.

Remove meat from braising liquid. If desired, skim the fat off the liquid.

Over low heat, simmer liquid adding a slurry of a couple of tablespoons of water and corn starch. Bring to a simmer.

Cut meat into chunks, removing any remaining chunks of fat and heat until warm.

I'm clearly too immature to read your blog because every time you said "butt" I giggled. That said, I love pork you-know-what AND I love my slow cooker so this is VERY appealing to me. Thanks for linking up at @SaucySaturdays.

Thank you! I love cooking with rosemary too, it is one of the few herbs I can keep going year round! I have a pot that moves from my back steps to my back porch in the winter and back out again in the spring.

I love the tang of balsamic vinegar and it helps to cut through the richness of the pork! I can't wait to make this and use the leftovers for a great breakfast scramble. If there are any! Thanks for sharing with Saucy Saturdays!

Thank you! Me too and luckily rosemary is hearty enough to stay alive in a pot on my back porch throughout the winter. It usually doesn't look great come spring, but it green up once it is warm out and it gets to go back outside!